Ohio State introduces Urban Meyer as next football coach

It is official. Urban Meyer is headed to Ohio State one year after leaving Florida.

The school introduced Meyer at a press conference Monday.

"In Urban Meyer we have found an exemplary person and remarkable coach to lead the University's football program into the future," said Ohio State president E. Gordon Gee. "As an alumnus, he understands and believes in the core academic mission of the University. As an Ohioan, he shares our common values and sense of purpose."

Meyer agreed to a six-year contract worth $4 million annually with retention bonuses for 2014, 2016 and 2018.

"I am honored and humbled by the opportunity to return to Ohio State," Meyer said in a statement. "This University and the State of Ohio have enormous meaning to me. My duty is to ensure that Ohio State's football program reflects and enhances the academic mission of the institution. I am part of it, I believe in it, and I will live it."

In his six seasons at Florida, Meyer went 65-15 and won two national championships. He announced his retirement after a loss in the 2009 SEC title game before reconsidering. He then walked away last January, saying he wanted to spend more time with his family and other interests.

Meyer spent the past season as a college football analyst for ESPN, however he did not work last weekend after being scheduled to call the Ohio State-Michigan game. He said at the news conference that he would not have left ESPN except for the opportunity of Ohio State.

Meyer said he feels great and used his time away from coaching to improve his health and research the ability to find balance between his job and personal life.

"I dont want to be one of those guys that sleeps in his office and thinks,' I missed this, I missed that," Meyer said.

"I've been to a place, I'm not going to go back."

Despite reports of an agreement prior, Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith said his first conversation with Meyer was on Nov. 20 and that an offer was not extended until Sunday.

"He is without a shadow of a doubt one of the premier leaders in college football," Smith said.

One Florida player was fine with Meyer taking the Ohio State job less than a year after he left Gainesville.

"Not a problem with me. Not a problem with me at all. Not at all. If he wants to be at Ohio State, good luck to him. I love coach Meyer. He brought me here at Florida. I can never say anything bad about coach Meyer. I respect him a lot. I love him as a coach and if he wants to go to Ohio State good luck to him,'' defensive tackle Omar Hunter said.

Chief among his goals in Columbus will be beating Michigan. The Wolverines ended a seven-game losing streak in the series last Saturday.

Michigan coach Brady Hoke spoke about the hiring before the press conference.

"I've known Urban. He's a good football coach, a good guy, and I welcome him in," Hoke said. "But it's still Michigan and Ohio, and neither one of us is going to play the game."

Meyer replaces Luke Fickell, who went 6-6 as the team's coach after he took over for Jim Tressel, who resigned on Memorial Day after admitting he lied to NCAA investigators about impermissible benefits received by players.

The NCAA has not handed down a final decision in the case. Ohio State has vacated its wins from the 2010 season and self-imposed probation and a reduction of five scholarships during a three-year period.

Fickell will be retained by Meyer and will coach the team in a bowl game.

The rest of his Meyer's staff is uncertain. It's possible Florida strength coach Mickey Marotti and special teams coach D.J. Durkin, both long acquaintances of Meyer, could join him in Columbus.

Meyer, 47, is a native of Ashtabula, Ohio, and attended undergraduate classes at the University of Cincinnati. He earned a master's degree in sports administration from Ohio State and was a graduate assistant at the school.

Before coaching at Florida, Meyer spent two years as the head coach at Utah, where he led the Utes to a perfect 12-0 season in 2004.

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